How does a small business initially get their name out quickly on a LARGE scale, and how much $$ does it take?

I am starting a small business with a friend. We have a great product, and business experience on the small business scale, but we're just not sure how to get our name out there on the next level. We want to go really big really fast because we don't want someone with more $$ to come in and take over the idea. All I can say about the product now is that it's collectible, durable goods, and a portion of our proceeds will be going to a different charity every year (American Cancer Society, ADA, etc.) One of our big "pitches" is that we are a charitable organization...how can we best utilize our idea?? Thanks for any help!

you have to define big. but in general you have to advertise and promote where the mass audiences are - so if you are going to be online, you have to be on the largest portals and mass audience consumer sites. Tie that in with tons of smaller relevant content sites which tie nicely into your message. If you need to do this very quickly, budget for no less than $500K and do some very impactful positioning.

Or go with TV...something like the superbow. Budget $200K to produce a spot, another $10 million to advertise and another $350K in agency fees...

Any way, you need the help of a professional ad services firm, contact me if you want a lead in that area.

I think there are many ways to promote your product via Internet. You can create a webpage with the name of the product and show it to people everywhere. For example, with GDI service you can design a real webpage for your product and the same time you can also get income for life. This company offers domains .ws and its service is quite good. This is a good way to do it. Good Luck